Removing x-axis label from dendrogram in r

Question

I use xlab="" to suppress the x-label but still get a 'sub-x-label' in my dendrogram. How can I remove this and remove any extra space under the dendrogram?

require(graphics)

hc <- hclust(dist(USArrests), "ave")
plot(hc,xlab="")

enter image description here

use `plot(hc,xlab=NA, sub=NA)`, as explained in the help page for `?plot.hclust` — Andrie, Sep 17 '12 at 16:08

score 27 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 17 '12 at 16:08

27

To remove the subtitle use the following:

plot(hc, xlab="", sub="")

To remove the bottom margin (see ?par for details):

par(mar=c(0, 4, 4, 2)) # c(bottom, left, top, right)
plot(hc, xlab="", sub="")

answered Sep 17 '12 at 16:08

sgibb

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Thank you. The subtitle is aded automatically and I just didn't realise it was a subtitle. – Elizabeth Sep 17 '12 at 16:40
give this man some bacon (or chocolate, or whatever else he fancies), for he solved my struggling of a very long time (more than I will be ever happy to admit). Thank you, kind stranger!!! – Stefano Mar 27 '18 at 08:05

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 17 '12 at 16:06

8

May be plot(hc,xlab='', sub="") removes it.

answered Sep 17 '12 at 16:06

Jilber Urbina

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score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 17 '12 at 16:10

You need

op <- par(mar = c(2,4,4,2) + 0.1))
plot(hc, xlab = "", sub = "")
par(op)

The first par() line stores the current settings and then sets the margin to be 2 lines bottom, 4 on the left and top and 2 lines on the right (plus a bit). Then we plot setting an empty string for the *sub*title via argument sub. Finally we set the parameters back to what they were before the first line.

I left a bit of room on the bottom margin as I'm not sure how far the labels can hand down. Change the first 2 in mar = c(2,4,4,2) to something smaller if you want less space down the bottom.

Removing x-axis label from dendrogram in r

3 Answers3